Heart of the Wolf

Page 45

“We could be the resident next door,” Devlyn said, trying to reassure her.
“Right.” But she didn’t feel at all reassured. That’s all they needed right now — some cop asking them why they were in the parking area of the unoccupied duplex when they didn’t live there. “The last girl on our list is Lisa Campbell, the first girl reported murdered. Her place is located on the other side of town.”
Devlyn drove them past Alfred’s place, but it was even more crowded with cars now. The time was nearly eight when they reached the victim’s house. But already they could see a dilemma. Lights were on in several of the rooms, and three vehicles were parked out front.
“Looks like it’s a little busy for a visit, Bella.”
She ground her teeth. “We have to know if Alfred killed her. Since he appears to be preoccupied in town, let’s take a country drive and check out his cows.” But she couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that someone was watching them.
Chapter Seventeen
Devlyn noticed Bella checking out the sideview mirror again and saw the tension in her stiffened spine. “See anything?”
“I thought I saw a black Humvee. Twice now. But when I look back, it’s gone, vanished in the rain.”
“I’ve seen it before.”
Bella looked at Devlyn. “When?”
“When we were at the dance club. I saw it parked there and then again when I took a look in the Cascades for any evidence of the murdering red’s complicity; it followed me for a while and then disappeared.”
“A red? Or volan?”
“volan would have confronted me. The windows were too dark; I couldn’t see the driver, but I gathered he was a red — wary, questioning, but something more. I can’t pinpoint the gut feeling I have about it, except that, even though he’s hostile — a red not liking a gray in the red’s territory and has his sights set on the only female red wolf who’s young enough to be pursued — he doesn’t seem to have any evil purpose.”
“Like reporting our actions to Alfred.”
“Right.” Devlyn was more curious than worried about the red’s business.
The downpour worsened along the highway, and Devlyn hoped that the rain would help hide their clandestine activities when they reached Alfred’s ranch.
Bella tapped her fingers on her door’s armrest. “This means he might be one of the older males who wants you to eradicate the killers from the pack.”
“Possibly.”
“You don’t think so?” she asked, her voice elevated in surprise.
“When I was alone, he followed much closer, more aggressively, letting me know he was there and watching. But when you’re with me, he hangs back, almost as though he knows he has no chance with you when I’m around.”
“The mystery murdering red?”
“Maybe. But I don’t really think so. The one who followed us into the woods, the one we recognized as the murderer, behaves differently. Skulks more in the background. I wished I’d paid more attention to who else was at the club that night. The Humvee was there, which meant this red was watching you... us. But I sure didn’t get a whiff of either the murderer or this guy.”
“Hmph,” Bella said, folding her arms. “As hot and sweaty as the humans were getting, covered in their cloying perfumes and colognes, I had enough of a time trying to smell the reds we met up with.”
“I was concentrating on a female red in the midst of a bunch of lusty red males. I should have known there would have been more of them there.” Devlyn peered into the fog, trying to locate the turnoff for Alfred’s ranch.
“I hacked into the files at the county courthouse; he owns the deed on a seven-hundred acre spread. Tax records show he has seven hundred sixty steers on the ranch and gets paid on the gain at a rate of thirty cents per pound per day with a gain of three hundred pounds. Not too shabby. He pays a tax assessment on the irrigation water from a canal, but, according to this, he doesn’t need the irrigation water and has fought with city hall about reducing or doing away with the tax.”
Devlyn snorted. “Why would anyone need irrigation water in a place as wet as this?”
Bella chuckled. “Ready to go home to Colorado and dry out?”
“You bet.”
“Okay, there’s a river on his property and his main house sits on a hill high above the ranch.” “Main house?”
“Yeah, he has a second home, mobile home, and a bunk house, machine shop, three large granaries, two loafing shed barns with feeders, an additional barn, and two sets of corrals with portable scales.”
“Holy crap, Bella honey! Can you imagine how many reds work for him and probably live on the property?”
Bella frowned at him. “But Alfred’s not there.”
Devlyn shook his head. “No, but most of the rest of his pack might be.”
He turned off onto the ranch road along the river in a pretty valley surrounded by timbered mountains. They spotted several elk, cows, yearlings, and horses on higher ground; some of the lower-lying pasture lands were under water.
All of the buildings rested on the hilltop above the valley, and Devlyn shut off his headlights and crawled along the road, trying to get as close to the main house as he could without garnering anyone’s attention.
“The Humvee’s behind us again,” Bella whispered, as if the guy could hear them. “But he turned off his headlights, too.”
“Maybe he hopes to box us in, if he backs Alfred. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have expected him to turn off his headlights. He’s got to know we realize he’s following us.”
Devlyn parked some distance from the house in the dark, and then he and Bella headed through the pelting rain for the backside of the place, where windows enjoyed a view of the valley. He glanced up at the eaves and roofline. “No security cameras.”
Bella motioned to the bunkhouse a couple of football fields away, where several pickup trucks were parked. “No need,” she whispered, “when he’s got such a huge security force nearby.”
Devlyn grabbed the doorknob on the back patio doors and smiled when the door opened without resistance. “He must feel really secure out here with all his hired muscle.”
Inside, the place was super elegant — leather couches, Persian rugs, crystal chandeliers, oil paintings of the Oregon coastline. And brass wolf sculptures. Devlyn didn’t bother turning on the lights, not needing them anyway, and made his way through the three spacious living areas, searched the kitchen, which was big enough to serve large parties, and then headed to the bedrooms, both he and Bella dripping water everywhere.
Every one of the bedrooms was outfitted for guests, with bathrooms for each, dressers and sitting rooms, and balconies. In the last one, the room was larger than the rest and even more highly appointed, with a brown velvet comforter on a raised bed, massive oak furniture that filled the room, and oil paintings of men and women hanging on the walls, maybe his family over several generations.
Bella grabbed an old leather-bound book off a shelf in a sitting area.
“His journal?”
“Werewolf legend.”
Devlyn made a face as she stuffed it into her jacket. “Humans don’t have a clue about the real lupus garou legend. And lupus garous aren’t permitted to set down the oral history in writing, which is why some clans became confused as to what the real story is,” Devlyn said while Bella sat down at Alfred’s computer.
Her fingers flying at the keyboard, she retorted, “Right, gray clans got it mixed up, you mean.” She let out her breath in exasperation. “Nothing on his computer, email, files, correspondence.” Bella scanned the rest of his computer. “Not a darned thing.” She looked up at Devlyn as he paused while searching through dresser drawers. “I smell lots of reds who have been here, which would be typical. Pack probably meets here regularly. And the murdering red? I smell him here, too.”
“I got a whiff of him in one of the guest bedrooms. But no humans. Alfred probably figures it’s too dangerous to bring them to his lair.”
Then he thought he heard a faint sound of something, but before he could listen further, a woman suddenly called out from the foyer, “Hello?”
“Damn,” Devlyn said under his breath, wondering why he hadn’t heard the front door opening.
He locked the bedroom door and hurried to open a back door onto the patio. Bella turned off the computer and joined him. But as soon as they sneaked around the side of the property, trying to reach their car, the heavy rain instantly dousing them, a woman ran outside, yelling into a phone, “Someone’s broken into the master’s house! Yes, yes... I don’t know. It smelled like a gray. And a female red. What? What do you mean keep them here? They’re not here! Oh, oh, I think I see a vehicle down the road in the dark. Yes, it’s a black SUV.”
The woman was shrieking so loud Devlyn was sure whoever was listening had to hold the phone away from his ear or lose his hearing. Devlyn rushed Bella down to the SUV, and both jumped in just as a couple of truck engines rumbled to life.
“Oh, hell, Devlyn. The cavalry’s coming.” Bella wrung out her hair and wiped the rain water off her face.
“We’ll make it, honey.” But he wasn’t sure they would. With nowhere to turn easily and the shoulders along the gravel road pure mud because of the hammering, constant rain, he headed straight for the pickup trucks in a dare-to-hit-me mode, chasing one off the hill. The pickup got stuck in the water-drenched mud. But the other truck was still game.
Bella gripped the seat and looked out the sideview mirror. “The Humvee’s behind us.”
Again, Devlyn wondered if the Humvee driver intended to box him in. But instead, the vehicle slipped on past him and headed straight for the pickup.
“Jeez, Devlyn, he appears to be on our side. Or plain nuts.”
At the last second, the pickup veered, clipping the Humvee’s front fender, causing the pickup to spin out of control and plow into the side of one of the barns. The Humvee flipped around, too, and ended up facing Devlyn’s vehicle.